The Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood received yesterday at the Guidance Bureau Hassan Nafaa, general coordinator for the National Association for Change (NAC). The meeting discussed mechanisms for joint action in the upcoming period. While Essam Erian, spokesperson for the Brotherhood, said the main aim of the visit was to express gratitude to the supreme guide for supporting the NAC, other informed sources, speaking on conditions of anonymity, said the Brotherhood and the NAC are in the process of preparing a document on future joint action. Mohamed Morsi, member of the Guidance Bureau, said the meeting looked into ways to achieve the seven demands included in the NAC's pro-reform statement. Meanwhile, Nafaa said the meeting examined ways to coordinate reformative action in the future, adding that both parties have agreed on a unified strategy to be implemented over several stages. The first part of the strategy involves raising the awareness of the people of the significance of the "rigging of the Shura election results" by the National Democratic Party (NDP), added Nafaa in statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm. The strategy also involves the introduction of popular mechanisms to pressure the regime and to convey the message that Egyptian people are in favor of reform. Finally, the strategy also calls for unifying the opposition before the People's Assembly and Presidential elections, he added. Nafaa said that he discussed with Badie the possibility of unifying all political powers, including the official parties of the Wafd, Tagammu, and Nasserist. He added that he found the Brotherhood willing to work with all political powers in Egypt, without excluding any. The two parties agreed to either boycott the People's Assembly elections or have a unified list of candidates for the oppostion in the People's Assembly election. "The Brotherhood has affirmed it is participating in all the activities of the NAC," continued Nafaa, "Be they seminars, or be it the NAC's signature-gathering campaign." Translated from the Arabic Edition.
